Huckabee: ”Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

AllahpunditPosted at 10:50 pm on December 11, 2007

I said I hoped we were done with Huck for the night. I didn’t say we were.

I’ll give him a pass here. Granted, he shouldn’t be wondering aloud about the doctrinal niceties of other faiths, particularly this one under the present circumstances. But a lot of people operate under a lot of misconceptions about Mormonism, it seems. No need to impute bad faith where simple ignorance will do.

Of course, that’s what I said at first about the “Christian Leader” ad. An LDS spokesman smells a rat:

The authoritative Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992, does not refer to Jesus and Satan as brothers. It speaks of Jesus as the son of God and of Satan as a fallen angel, which is a Biblical account.

A spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Huckabee’s question is usually raised by those who wish to smear the Mormon faith rather than clarify doctrine.

”We believe, as other Christians believe and as Paul wrote, that God is the father of all,” said the spokeswoman, Kim Farah. ”That means that all beings were created by God and are his spirit children. Christ, on the other hand, was the only begotten in the flesh and we worship him as the son of God and the savior of mankind. Satan is the exact opposite of who Christ is and what he stands for.”

Maybe Romney should take to casually wondering what specie of property women in covenant marriages are regarded as being. I have a feeling he won’t, though. Exit question: Why does Mitt worship Satan?

Update: A reader sends this link to the LDS website as evidence that Huck’s getting a bad rap from the AP:

We needed a Savior to pay for our sins and teach us how to return to our Heavenly Father. Our Father said, “Whom shall I send?” (Abraham 3:27). Two of our brothers offered to help. Our oldest brother, Jesus Christ, who was then called Jehovah, said, “Here am I, send me” (Abraham 3:27)…

Satan, who was called Lucifer, also came, saying, “Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor” (Moses 4:1).

Sounds from this like we’re all brothers, Christ and Satan included, which jibes with what the LDS spokesman quoted in the article said. Huck isn’t technically wrong, in other words, although he does seem to be suggesting a special sibling relation between Christ and Satan — as though Mormons somehow equate the two — that I’m not seeing in this passage. As noted above, I’m willing to chalk it up to simple misunderstanding. Our LDS readers can take it from there in the comments.